From ancient times and especially for games men have used game accessories to generate random values, most numbers or outcomes during the game; the accessory concerned is the rolled dice, also called gaming dice or simply dice or die. It should be noted that present description will use the term “dice” as it is used in common speech, but the component it refers to is by no way limited to a cube in the geometrical sense, most used as a dice, i.e. the hexahedron, but as will be shown in the description below, it may take various forms.
The dice which, after being rolled on a horizontal, mostly plane, surface, lands in one of its several home positions and which is used as a random number generator in several games is commonly known. For this purpose, dice usually bear groups of markings of which one only is visible and regarded as valid once the rolled dice regains a home position. This marking, most often a number, is what indicates and provides the value of the roll or identifies the action to be taken based on the roll.
The side surfaces of the dice which corresponds to the most common interpretation of the term show values indicated most frequently by spots or pips, namely 1 to 6 spots, applied, imprinted, painted etc. on the faces of the dice, preferably symmetrically to its centre. As is well-known, the numbers on each side surface, that is, the spots, are arranged so as to combine pairs of numbers that total 7 on diametrically opposed point side surfaces. That is, the markings of 1 and 6, 2 and 5, 3 and 4, respectively, are located on diametrically opposed faces. Although for most people the dice is equivalent to said cube outlined above, in fact, similar game accessories, but not of the most widespread hexahedral type, but maybe of the form of a simple or double pyramid (octahedral) or some other body with more faces or faces of different sizes or, as the case may be, even asymmetrical or randomly shaped bodies are used for similar purposes in many games the world over. The common characteristic of these bodies is that their design allows them to take up a specific home position during the game, i.e. their use, after being rolled, so that the number or value shown on the rolled dice should be clear and unambiguous. Dice of ten and even 30 sides are also known, with the spots being replaced—the higher the scores/values concerned, the more often—by other symbols, mostly numbers for, with a 30-sided dice, for example, it would be difficult to arrange 30 spots and practically impossible to read the number correctly if such a quantity of spots were to be counted after each roll.
The material and design of the dice may vary: the most common dice are made of bone, stone, plastic or wood; their colour depends fully on the intention of the manufacturer, the same as the colouring/size of the spots; no specification or standards exist. To facilitate their use, the vertex as well as edges of most dice are more or less rounded, which makes it more pleasant to handle them, and also easier and simpler for the rolled dice to turn over to another face, whether across an edge or a vertex.
Neither is the size of the dice defined or restricted; it ranges from miniature cubes with an edge length of 3-4 mm for travel games to as big as man-sized cubes, often made of extruded or expanded polystyrene foam, used mostly for community games or media events.
Another most essential feature of the dice, a requirement imposed by the game, is that its shape, size, weight should be such as to be indifferent as far as the outcome of the roll is concerned. Therefore, the material of the dice is chosen so as to have the most even weight distribution possible inside the dice. There is a long history of efforts to bias dice rolls by putting a small weight made of a heavier metal such as lead into the material of the cube to guarantee a statistically uneven outcome, i.e. the more frequent occurrence of the bottom position of the heavier side, with the number or value on the opposite side being shown as the winner one.
In some types of usage, in casinos in the first place, every parameter of the dice is specified most precisely; a dice can only be used for a few hours and, for example, roundings as indicated above are forbidden, because their size and shape cannot be checked by the naked eye, and occasional dissimilarities due mainly to manufacturing errors, i.e. not intentional ones, could influence the outcome and are therefore not permitted in such areas.
To prevent fraud, dice are often made of transparent or semi-transparent materials, which makes it more difficult to read the number or spots displayed on the rolled dice, but ensures easy identification of the above-mentioned manipulation or cheating. This solution, however, does not ensure prompt recognition by the naked eye of unequal edge lengths—which may also influence the outcome of the roll—, especially not if a single dice is used in the game, and hence different or unusual dice dimensions cannot be revealed by the simultaneous observation of the other dice or other dice.
Another feature of the traditional dice, taken into account less frequently, is that the hexahedral shape makes the dice highly suitable for building various configurations out of them. On traditional dice, however, the spots on dice placed side by side or on top of/under each other are always read separately, that is, the total of the spots of two juxtaposed dice will be a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 12, and any deviation from that rule would require the specification and observation of a complex set of new rules, difficult to apply in practice.
DE 19649297 C1 describes a game accessory similar to a dice, which comprises a polyhedral body the main surfaces of which lie opposite one another in pairs and function as support surface or display surface. According to that solution, the main surfaces are designed on the body so that the symmetry axes of the support and display surfaces opposite one another be inclined relative to one another. Consequently, the shape of this gaming device will be such that, as opposed to the traditional dice, instead of moving along a generally straight line when being rolled, it can change direction more directly and swiftly. This solution highlights the use of elliptical main surfaces, where the main axes of the main surfaces opposite one another are perpendicular to one another. At the end of a certain motion flow, this gaming device occupies (and remains in) a position in which its generally upward-looking main surface displays a certain outcome or symbol, which/the value of which tells the next step in a game or gaming device played with a dice. Such gaming devices similar to the dice can be used and are used also alone, that is, without other accessories or props, for the purposes of games or entertainment.
The shape of the gaming device described above is such that so-called secondary surfaces are also formed in addition to the already mentioned main surfaces, and due to the decisively elliptical shapes, one cannot speak of traditional edges and vertices either. Therefore, the roll values/results are indicated for the users of the dice by the different colours of its main surfaces or by indicia on its main surfaces. Of course, in addition to the main surfaces, the secondary ones can also be coloured or marked, which raises the number of numbers/symbols that the dice can display.
Although this known dice mentioned above can produce more unexpected results due to its shape (than a traditional one), given its design, it can only be used alone or multiplicated; however, since in the latter case there is again no connection or co-operation between the numbers/symbols visible on the individual gaming devices, although the proposed gaming device makes the game more varied, the number of events which depend on the dice roll undergoes no increase of merit.
DE 102005023746 A1 proposes a dice arrangement whereas the hexahedral shape of the traditional dice is retained, but three dice are used simultaneously instead of one, with numbers in the range of 1 to 9 indicated on the faces of each dice, and the resulting numbers are meant to provide for a higher number of variations in terms of the roll total attainable by the dice when three dice are used simultaneously. This solution also adheres to the design of the traditional dice and the customary spots used there, and the number of markings/spots on each face can be selected essentially at one's discretion, but since a single dice obviously cannot show nine different indicia schemes, the even distribution of the latter on the faces of the individual dice can/must be ensured by statistically supported calculations.
DE 19831711 C2 describes a gaming dice of the traditional hexahedral shape, that is, with six edges and eight vertices, but with cubical or spherical or cylindrical bodies realised on the vertices of the cube to trigger preferred or selected positions, said bodies strongly protruding from the plane of the dice, and provided with at least one support surface. The purpose of this known solution is to limit the roll distance and prevent lest the dice should roll off the surface, e.g. tabletop, upon which it is rolled, to make the game clearer and faster. The roll value is again indicated on the faces of the dice, in the form of spots, for example, so the course of the game is not affected by the dice or the indicia.
DE 200102924 U1 describes a dice of a hexahedral shape, with identical markings on every two opposite faces, which are definitely not numbers or spots, but simple figures clearly recognizable to the naked exe. This gaming dice was meant to be part of an unknown game developed by its inventor, but the reason for the reduced number of markings is unknown.
DE 29606681 U1 proposes a dice which comprises a relatively large, transparent, hollow hexahedral closed body, with several smaller traditional dice placed therein. The purpose of this dice is again that it should travel but a little, along a short distance, when being rolled on the tabletop or some other surface, lest it should fall down, while at the same time the roll total indicated by the freely moving dice located in it can be read by the unaided eye, which accelerates the game. Apart from this special design, the dice themselves possess no new feature and do not affect the process of the game.
DE 3621744 describes a dice game which comprises several essentially traditional dice, flexibly linked to one another at one vertex of each, so that several, according to the example three, dice can be rolled by one roll, their flexible connection hindering in no way that each cube should come to a home position independent of one another and display a roll value that is probably to be totalled during the game. This circumstance notwithstanding, this solution proposes no novelty as far as the game is concerned, and the interlinked cubes are also of the traditional hexahedral kind.
GB 1187095 describes a dice essentially of the traditional hexahedral shape, but with markings which, instead of showing numbers, indicate directions in which the players must move their game components during the game. In this solution, the markings almost protrude from the plane of the faces of the cube, and are not suitable to carry a different meanings if several dice are used in combination than e.g. two dice used independently.
US 2003/0218299 A1 describes a method for manufacturing a dice and the resulting dice. The solution focuses primarily on professional dice user areas such as casinos or dice houses etc., and defines in detail how to make the individual spots of a traditional hexahedral dice and how to apply the paint to realise the indicia. This solution does not mention any other features or novel uses of the dice.
US 2002/0024176A1 describes a gaming device made of two united dice or, if you please, 3D dominoes. One game component bears such markings as if two dice were actually juxtaposed, with the difference that it has empty faces as well like a domino, and the way the game is played is also more akin to the well-known domino game than to the more widespread dice games.
WO 2007/107011 A1 describes a 3D game and method, in which such a hexahedral dice is used as in the old games, but the faces of the dice are marked by increasing numbers, and the actual meaning of each face is to be calculated according to the rules of an interactive computer game.
WO 2006/052350 A1 describes a dice which is substantially hexahedral in shape, with numbers realised on its side surfaces, but the edges and vertices of the dice also play a role in the determination of the attained roll total, according to the rules of a game which is mostly played in casinos.